Between Anticipative and Iconic: Re-imaging the Emirati Villa and its Spatial Assemblages

This article chronicles the evolution of the UAE’s (United Arab Emirates) residential architecture from its pre-urban beginnings in the dwellings of semi-nomadic tribes and coastal merchants to the ‘iconic' villas of the present. A temporal framing of traditional planning practices, including t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of planning history Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 47 - 67
Main Authors:	Rashid, Mamun, Ara, Dilshad R.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-02-2023 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:	Housing Merchants Planning Tribes and tribal systems Urban development bottom-up design Emirati villa user-generated accretions transnational planning UAE urban detached house tribal-modern history Arabian Gulf
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This article chronicles the evolution of the UAE’s (United Arab Emirates) residential architecture from its pre-urban beginnings in the dwellings of semi-nomadic tribes and coastal merchants to the ‘iconic' villas of the present. A temporal framing of traditional planning practices, including the collaborative roles of Sheikhs and transnational actors (in global and citywide planning networks), provides a narrative about Emirati houses from the pre-oil era (pre-1950s) to the post-federation era (post-1970s). This mapping of housing transitions is useful because previous research in the UAE’s tribal-modern context has largely ignored continuities and contingencies. The discursive relationship between past and present, top-down planning and user-driven bottom-up practice can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of urban development that does not blindly accept dominant views of iconic forms or planning histories.
ISSN:	1538-5132 1552-6585
DOI:	10.1177/15385132211061816